Author: Ben Donovan

Your Priorities is an annual research project that Age UK London conducts in order to increase understanding of the day-to-day issues affecting older people in the capital. By framing the research around eleven distinct issues and seeking the feedback of older Londoners themselves to evaluate their experiences in relation to these issues, Your Priorities really takes into account the cumulative voice of older people in London and contributes towards the knowledge base that Age UK London uses in informing campaigning and programme activities.

When you’re sitting opposite your GP at your local surgery and he or she is accompanying their well-meaning diagnosis and advice with the melodic tap-tap-tapping on their keyboard, do you ever really wonder what happens to the information that they are inputting, where it goes or in what form it is seen? Needless to say, the details related to your medical history do need to have the freedom to pass beyond the limitations of your local surgery. If you were to have a referral to other specialists, you would want them to know your details rather than have to narrate […]

The ‘no win’ scenario of older people ‘blocking jobs’ or being a ‘negative burden’ on family and the state, is not only a perpetuation of a divisive ideology instilled across generations – it is also a distraction from the fact that older people, like anyone else acquire considerable, variable and multi-faceted capabilities which enable them to make valuable contributions. All that remains for them to be able to carry on, is for society to let this to happen.